Mother Talkers

Price Check On Organic, Non-Organic Foods

by Elisa

Mon May 05, 2008 at 12:02:50 PM PDT

Quick Note: I just submitted a parenting piece for an environmental magazine and am publishing the material I did not use. -Elisa

BERKELEY, Calif. -- As part of my research, I compared the prices of organic and non-organic baby and kids' foods at two Walgreens in Berkeley, the Berkeley Bowl supermarket, Whole Foods in Berkeley and Safeway's Pak 'n Save supermarket in nearby Emeryville. To my surprise, the prices for organic foods have fallen, making them comparable to better-known, non-organic brands in certain food categories like cereal.

Or, my perception is simply colored by the fact that prices for all foods have risen, as NJmom recently blogged here.

Anyways, I thought I would share with you what I found, especially since some of these stores are available nationwide. I noted which foods were organic so you can assume the rest is non-organic. Walgreens, for example, sells no organic baby foods or snacks, although it does sell one organic baby formula by Similac.

Formula (25 oz.)
Walgreens
Walgreens Infant Formula...$14.99
Enfamil Infant Formula...$26.99
Similac Organic Infant Formula...$29.99
Berkeley Bowl
Earth's Best Organic (13.2 oz.)...$16.49
Whole Foods
Earth's Best Organic (13.2 oz.)...$15.99
Baby's Only Organic Formula (12.7 oz.)...$10.29
Pak 'n Save
Similac Organic Formula...$31.19
Enfamil...$26.49
O for Baby Organics...$25.99 or $21.99 with free Safeway Club Card

Rice Cereal (8 oz.)
Walgreens
Gerber...$2.29 or 2 boxes for $4
Berkeley Bowl
Earth's Best Organic...$2.08
Whole Foods
Earth's Best Organic...$2.99
Pak 'n Save
Earth's Best Organic...$3.29 or $2.75 with Safeway Club Card
Gerber...$2.98

Baby Food
Walgreens
Gerber 4 oz. jar...$0.99
Gerber 6 oz. jar...$1.19
Berkeley Bowl
Healthy Times Organic 4 oz. jar...$0.79
Healthy Times Organic 6 oz. jar...Not Available.
Earth's Best Organic 4 oz. jar...$0.79
Earth's Best Organic 6 oz. jar...$0.99
Whole Foods
Earth's Best 4 oz. jar...$0.83
Earth's Best 6 oz. jar...$1.29
Pak 'n Save
O for Baby Organics 4 oz. jar...$0.79 or 10 for $7 with Safeway Club Card
Earth's Best 4 oz. jar...$1.29 or 10 for $7 with Safeway Card
Earth's Best 6 oz. jar...$1.28 or 10 for $10 with Safeway Card
Gerber 4 oz. jar...$0.65
Gerber 6 oz. jar...$0.85 or 10 for $8 with Safeway Card

Baby Finger Foods
Walgreens
Gerber Graduates 1.48 oz.-container of puffs...$2.99
Walgreens #2
Gerber Graduates 1.48 oz. container of puffs...$2.69
*Note: Except for Gerber Graduates puffs, the prices for all other baby items were identical in both Walgreens.
Berkeley Bowl
Healthy Times 5.5 oz. box of Organic Teddy Puffs...$2.38
Whole Foods
Healthy Times Organic Teddy Puffs...$2.29
Pak 'n Save
Gerber Graduates 1.48 oz. container of puffs...$2.89 or 3 for $6.60 with Safeway card

As for the older kids, here is a comparison of some favorites:

  • ::

Cereal
Berkeley Bowl
Kellogg's Frosted Flakes (14 oz.)...$4.79
EnviroKidz Organic Frosted Flakes (13.25 oz.)...$3.69
Whole Foods
EnviroKidz Organic Frosted Flakes...$3.69
Pak 'n Save
O Organics Frosted Flakes (15 oz.)...$3.39
Kellogg's Frosted Flakes (14 oz.)...$4.49
Safeway Frosted Flakes (15 oz.)...$3.69 or $2.49 with club card

Yogurt
Berkeley Bowl
Stonyfield Farm Organic YoKids pack of six...$3.99
Wallaby Organic (6 oz.)...$0.95
Yoplait (6 oz.)...$0.85
Whole Foods
Stonyfield Farm Organic YoKids...$3.49
Wallaby Organic...$0.99
Pak 'n Save
Stonyfield Farm Organic YoBaby pack of six...$4.89
O Organics (6 oz.)...4 for $5 or 5 for $5 with Safeway card
Yoplait...5 for $5 or 10 for $7 with Safeway card

Additional Notes: The comparison shopping only validated my choice to continue to shop at Berkeley Bowl, which is walking distance from me. I swear I have been able to cut down my food budget by a third by simply switching from Whole Foods to Berkeley Bowl. But I think this is due to Berkeley Bowl's more affordable produce as the baby items are comparably priced in both places.

A Whole Foods employee saw me jotting down the prices of baby items and he told me that Whole Foods is not more expensive than nearby supermarkets. It simply does a better job marketing a couple high-end items, he said.

To prove its point, the supermarket recently published this notice on an easel: "The Whole Story," which included receipts from Pak n' Save and Whole Foods, showing that Pak 'n Save was actually more expensive on staples like bread and milk. But the Pak n' Save receipt did not include savings from the Safeway club card.

Tags: organic food, non-organic food, baby food, supermarket, Berkeley Bowl, Walgreens, Whole Foods (all tags)

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